Magic as a Social Practice
In a recent post, I asked what the purpose of magic is. In some follow up conversations I’ve had, it’s been suggested that magic is a social practice. If so, then the question arises how contemporary practices of magic display such social practices. In another conversation I had, it was suggested that in a lot of contemporary occult culture there is a focus on out cooling each other, a focus as it were on image as opposed to something more substantial. We see this attempt to outcool each other in workings which are focused on sabotaging the institutions of mainstream culture. For example the attempt send a lovebomb to Fox News, as written about in Generation Hex is a good example of a focus on image as opposed to content. We have to ask if that magical working really did anything substantial…and given that Fox news seems to be still running and operating, I’m not certain that the lovebomb did anything substantial at all, other than create an image of doing something.
If magic can function as a social practice, it must offer something more substantial than image and a practice more significant than attempting to prove who is more cool or who is more subversive to mainstream culture. Indeed, we need to ask how magic actually contributes to our culture. Are we engaged in a practice where we actively contribute to the culture around us? How does the practice of magic contribute to our culture? In what ways is magic as a social practice, a practice that enables change of some kind to occur?
In a discussion I had with Vince Stevens, he suggested that taking the path of the Taoist mystic who sought to educate people about his practices in order to help them live better lives might be a path to consider. I think this approach to magic can be useful in the sense that it asks us to consider what kind of information we are gtiving out as well as considering the effect that information will have on the people hwo choose to pursue it.
What I think magic as a social practice really comes down to is finding ways to re-package magic as it were. I got involved in life coaching because I wanted to be able to offer skills I’d learned as an occultist to people who might not feel comfortable with the magical aspects, but could still benefit from a repackaging of those concepts into something they could understand, without all the negative connotations included…because despite what Crowley wanted, in terms of rehabilitating magic, I don’t perceive it as rehabilitated in the public’s conception of it. For magic to become a social practice it has to be re-packaged…reconsidered, as well as looking at how it is used for the benefit of all as opposed to the benefit of just the practitioner or a small group of people that practitioner knows. I think that as the concepts of intention and will are explored in neuroscience and physics and psychology, and as professions such as life coaching and alternative healing become more prevalent there is a chance to apply magical skills to the community and to help people become more connected to each other. I think that if this is to be to successful, we ultimately have to ask what the purpose of magic is and what legacy we want leave to the people who follow us, as well as to this planet we live on.
~ by imagineyourreality on September 23, 2008.
Posted in Magic, Taylor Ellwood, social practice
Tags: Aleister Crowley, Generation Hex, magic as a social practice, Taylor Ellwood, The purpose of Magic
Whether or not something works is certainly an important question. And the same, I think it is important to do what you can do. Start with magic and prayer, but (like in many magical instances) you also have to move your feet and take action. I think magic is most dangerous when it acts as escapism rather than a way to supplement your actions in the real world. This is particularly true around political/social magic to affect big issues
This is a great meditation and a helpful line of thought.
Social practice…requires a society. I’m thinking about how I do magic and how I’ve seen people do magic in my 30 years in the magical communities. As a feminist epistemologist I am wary of generalization, I look for the experience behind the thought.
I’ve done a lot of group ritual, big pagan events – organized them, wrote the ritual. They always had a purpose beyond getting the group together. A friend of mine says that all magical energy raised, even in teaching, has to *go somewhere*. So I don’t think social practice covers what magic is.
I always thought, and taught, that the foundation of magical practice is what I do when I’m alone in the temple. I still think that, even though I’ve come to understand that the collective is the minimal human unit. What we all do when alone is also magic and has no social function.
The idea of social practice points to something important, though. I continue to be concerned that magic is no longer socially relevant. Interestingly, check out Sabazius_x on LiveJournal today, he’s talking about social responsibility in a Thelemic context.
When we look at magic as a social practice, who your friends are becomes very important. I’m in OTO partly because the people around me share a set of experiences that create a common language. That’s a powerful bonding agent, even laying aside the fraternal processes that deliberately create commitment. The OTO is a conservative organization focused on preserving the work of Aleister Crowley. My experimental work is quite out of place there – a mismatch of group and effort.
The great danger with experimental work is that you may end up with as many worldviews as individuals. That was the conclusion of the post-modern unravelling, we ended up with billions of monads. There has to be a way to bind the group for common endeavor. Ritual may provide that grouping. Right now, honestly, I think blogging is the primary way those connections occur.
I note going by that I am eliding magic and ritual. I’m not sure which you meant here as well.
Thanks for posting, I look forward to your future meditations.
Ash,
I agree with you. I sometimes think magic is used irresponsibly to try and create social/political change without considering why that change needs to occur or what the effect will be. Action is always necessary to help make the magic we do a reality. I think the problem I see with escapism in magic is the belief that magic can somehow make everything all better.
Brandy,
I’ve already experienced that danger in regards to experimental work in a situation…it ended up being a situation by a couple people who had different ideas about how some of the material should have been presented.
I’d agree that social practice doesn’t cover magic…I think it can point to aspects of magic however, specifically how the practice of magic is used to interface with society or culture.